Politics & Government

Officials Still Cleaning Up Irene's Mess

Emergency responders from Harrison worked through the weekend while Irene approached—and the work isn't over yet.

From water rescues in homes and cars to cutting away trees and even calming concerned residents, it was a busy weekend for all of Harrison's emergency responders, many of whom were on call from Saturday afternoon to late Sunday.

"Everybody's tired," said Harrison Fire Chief Dino Del Signore, whose department answered a whopping 65 emergency calls during the storm. "We didn't run into any problems."

Firefighters were on call throughout the storm, starting Saturday afternoon. They didn't receive the brunt of emergency calls until early Sunday, but were ready when the time came.

Find out what's happening in Harrisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It was a lot of rain to deal with and wind," Del Signore said. "With all the trees down and flooded areas we had to re-route some of our ways to get to people, but we did get to them and help them and do what we had to do."

There were no major injuries reported in Harrison while Hurricane Irene battered the East Coast Sunday. Not far from town, in Croton-on-Hudson, a man near the Hudson River. Another man was line in Spring Valley, but no such incidents have been reported locally.

Find out what's happening in Harrisonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But there were safety concerns, at least two families along Ramapo Trail had to be rescued on a boat at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. Firefighters were able to reach the homes, and their occupants, before there were any complications. A fire was also reported on Scotts Circle in West Harrison, but that was quickly extinguished.

As well as responding to emergency calls, police officers were out closing roads that were either flooded or blocked by debris throughout the day as well. 

Del Signore said trees fell on houses in a few areas, but that no one was injured. There were also several cars stuck in the water, including one where the occupant was trapped inside and needed to be rescued.

"The fire department was constantly on the run," said Harrison Mayor/Supervisor Joan Walsh, noting that all three departments not only responded to emergency calls, but they were also helping with downed trees on homes and streets.

Department representatives from the police and fire departments as well as EMS and department of public works, set up a headquarters at the police station throughout the storm. Walsh said this had never been done before and helped facilitate relief efforts Sunday.

"The responses to the emergency services got to them more directly," said Walsh. It worked very, very, well."

The plan to setup an operations center was conceived after a storm hit the area in the spring. It was worked out in detail during the days before the storm, Walsh said.

"Everything went well," said Del Signore. "It's all part of pre-planning and having a strategy, a game plan, and sticking to it and executing it properly."

With the storm over, the cleanup has only begun. Walsh said there are still more than two pages of trouble spots caused by downed trees that DPW officials are addressing. Town workers are teaming up with Con Edison to remove the trees that fell near electrical wires. 

More than 1,000 Harrison customers remain without power Monday afternoon, mostly along the Harrison-Mamaroneck border, Con Edison reports. Con Edison has estimated that all areas of Harrison will have power restored by Thursday, Walsh said, but she is hoping for problems to clear sooner.

All of the town's buildings are open and functioning Monday, and other than lingering power outages and local flooding, most of the storm's major affects should be cleared by the end of the day. Local and county roads through Harrison that were back and functioning by Monday afternoon.

Although travel was diffuclt during the worst of the storm, Del Signore said that responders were able to help anyone who called throughout the weekend.

"We made due and we got the job done," he said.


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